Refuge
by Nemu-saa
Summary: Maddie’s life is good, living with her grandmother But someone is after her for her abilities and she knows her only safety is with the one person who could ever protect her. But can Clark save her again? His nightmares say otherwise.
1. Chapter 1

**Summery: **Maddie's life is good, living with her grandmother But someone is after her for her abilities and she knows her only safety is with the one person who could ever protect her. But can Clark save her again? His nightmares say otherwise.

**Disclaimers: **I don't own Smallville, anyone, anything, or any place in it.

**Feedback:** Oh, yes! I accept feedback of all shapes, sizes, and nationality! Including flames! Criticism is welcome and praise is, of coarse, a lovely confidence booster so bring it on!;)

**Time Frame:** Just after "Fade"

**Rated:** T

**Note:** There is no bad language, sexual content or innuendo, or slash in this or any of my stories.

**Refuge**

* * *

"Maddie, please come take out the trash for me?"

"Sure, Grandma, I'll be right there," Maddie called back cheerfully, shutting the lid on the hat box she'd been rifling through. There were a lot of pictures in the old stuffy attic and Maddie had made it her personal mission to track down one of her mother.

She'd expected to be a little more emotional about it but somehow, the concentration involved in searching so many boxes hidden in every corner of the attic was enough to keep her mind off it. She still remembered the day too clearly.

It had been dark and she'd been in her car seat, watching the slow rain come down as they waited at a stoplight. She remembered her mother's voice, talking on the telephone. She'd been upset about something but Maddie had only been three when it'd happen so she didn't remember that her mom had been talking to her father.

The eleven-year-old could remember her mother getting very scared about something and pulling Maddie out of the car, sliding her under it. And then there had been the sound of shattering glass.

Maddie hated that sound. And she always would.

Her feet hit each of the mettle rungs on the ladder up to the little attic and when she got to the bottom she folded it up and pushed it to the ceiling where she could barely tell where it was except for the string hanging awkwardly down in the middle of the narrow hall.

The light downstairs was a light golden color which never ceased to lift her spirits. She walked into the kitchen and made a b-line for the sink, under which was hidden the white trashcan. She opened the cupboard and her grandmother walked in.

"So do you miss school at all?"

"A little maybe… the kids don't -" she stopped, suddenly very interested in the trash bag she was tying shut.

"Don't what, sweet heart?"

"Like me… at all."

"Oh, they're just jealous."

Maddie smiled in spite of herself, lifting the bag out of the can. "Yeah, but you have to say that, you're my grandmother."

"No, I have to say that because it's true." she smiled and it made Maddie smile, too, as always. "Well, I'm glad to have you home with me. But I don't want to keep you stuck here all summer, is there anything you wanted to do with your free time?"

Maddie shrugged. "I dunno… I'd really like to find a picture of my mom."

"Oh…" Grandma came up and ran a hand down Maddie's cheek. "Honey, I'm sure I can help you with that. I loved your mother, you know. I thought she was the best thing that ever happened to -" for Maddie's sake, she didn't finish but her granddaughter had already finished in her head and it made her shiver. Her father.

"I'm gonna take this outside," she mumbled, dragging the bag out the back door.

It was hot today and the lake a mile or two in the distance looked particularly inviting as it wavered through the steam between it and her. But she didn't have the energy to run all the way down to it so she sighed long-sufferingly and went back inside, pushing all the discomfort of her father out of her mind. He was in jail. And he was going to stay there. There was no reason why she should ever have to think about him again.

When she opened the door, the kitchen was empty so she put another bag in the garbage can and walked brightly through the hall and into the living-room and over to the boxy old computer. She double clicked on the link to the internet, got up and walked off.

The Macintosh '97 was probably the slowest computer in the world and it would be a few minutes before the page loaded.

By the time Maddie had gotten the email box loaded, she'd finished eating her lunch and done the dishes.

But her waiting paid off and she felt a rush of excitement that can only be given by receiving mail and was enlarged upon when she saw who it was from.

"Clark!" she clicked on the email and, as if the computer read her excitement and took compassion on her, it loaded without a great deal of waiting.

_Hey Maddie!_

_I'm writing because Lois is driving me crazy and I want your advise. Should I lock her in the barn or just sic Shelby on her? J/K ;) _

_So I guess summer vacation is starting for you today, huh? I miss high school sometimes, especially working at the newspaper with Chloe._

_Alright, the real reason I'm writing is because somebody let it slip that your birthday is this Monday and I just wanted to tell you happy birthday and that I'm going to be kidnapping you sometime around six in the morning on said day and you have to wear pajamas. _

_Of course, I suppose it's not a real crime if I asked your Grandmother first…oh well, we can't have everything. ;) _

_See you then!"_

_- Clark_

Maddie grinned to herself. She wanted to go tell someone the good news, but there was no one to tell so she exclaimed enthusiastically to the stained glass window, "Clark's coming!"

"Need tape!"

"Here." Chloe held out her finger with a small piece of scotch tape fluttering on the end of it. "Where'd Mrs. Kent go?"

"To the store, she needed to pick up the cake." Lois jumped down off the ladder and surveyed their work. Her eyes stopped half way around. "Why is there a shower in the middle of the room?"

"This just coming now?" Chloe joked with a curious look.

"Really. It's a dumb place to put a shower and it looks silly."

"Well, look at the bright side, it could be just inside the front door and then you could never take a shower. Now hand me that balloon, the one over here is smaller than all the other ones."

"What about Clark, wasn't he supposed to be in charge of the thing?"

Chloe shook her head as much as she could with out jerking the tape away from the wall. "I'm not sure but I remember him saying something about us not having any plates…or maybe it was he was going to be late or something."

There was a knock on the door and Lois went to answer it. "How's it going?" asked Martha with a smile as she walked in, bearing the cake. "I hope there's room in the fridge still."

"I'll make room, I'm good at that." Lois took the cake from her and disappeared into the kitchen and Chloe finally got the balloon to stay put and climbed down.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think it looks perfect." they stood, taking in the magnificent décor for a minute and then Martha sighed and turned a sparkling smile on Chloe. "We really appreciate the help from you and Lois."

"Oh, no problem, this'll be fun. I've always loved decorating."

"Well, and not just with the decorations and everything, but also for lending us your apartment. I really would have just had it at the farm but by the time they get the electricity fixed it'll be too late to start. That and we barely have any windows, all the new panes are still in the barn. Clark said he might need to stall just for us to have everything up and running by tomorrow. Will you two be here?"

"Definitely!" said Lois, returning with a poorly hidden triumph making her face glow. "Wouldn't miss it."

"Thank you both so much." Martha smiled again and left the two girls alone with their pink streamers and yellow balloons.

There was a brief silence. Then Lois said solidly, "Orlando."

"Keanu. Period, it's my turn."

"Who says?"

"You did, last night when I loaned you thirty bucks, read'em and weep." Chloe laughed and ran into the living room.

"Aw, c'mon!" Lois followed, stepping on one of the balloons (which exploded) and making Chloe laugh even harder.

Her lead broke and she sighed heavily, reaching for the cylinder-shaped pencil sharpener. As she twisted the little pencil around in the hole, she glanced at the red glowing numbers on the alarm clock on her shelf. 5:34am it read.

Another half an hour to kill. She'd gone to bed on time but somewhere around three in the morning, she'd realized that the idea of sleeping was a ridiculous one and she'd given up hope of ever managing it, so she'd gotten out her drawing pencils and started scribbling away.

She'd considered going up to the attic and start going through some more boxes but the noise of the stairs coming down would have woken Grandma.

Picture after picture was produced from the end of the eighteen stubby pencils that were far past their expiration date and obviously well used. Mostly they were pictures of Shelby, but some were landscape or the Windmill out by Chandler's Field. Some were of the trees that were just visible beyond the brown dirt road that led up to Hastings Road and the faded blue house perched upon it.

The clock now read 6:00am. Maddie jumped up and pulled her pink jacket on over her pajama shirt and pushed her feet into her shoes, already half running to her bedroom door. She thumped down the steps as softly as possible in her excitement and through the hall. She halted in the living room and listened.

The soft whinny of a horse could now be heard outside and her heart leaped. She ran up and opened the door.

Clark was grinning and holding the reins of both Shadow and Buttercup who were stomping expectantly and whinnying in their impatience. "Madam, your chariot awaits."

Maddie ran across the short distance between the porch and the two horses and reached out a hand to Buttercup. "Oh, Clark…" she sighed. "Are we going riding?"

"Nah, these two are just for decoration." he winked and helped her on to Buttercup. She looked around at the dew sodden ground and the gray sky.

"Are we the only ones up?"

"Seems that way, all of the other residents of Smallville probably have better things to do at six o'clock in the morning." he slung up into Shadow's saddle. "Shall we?"

She bit her lip and nodded, hardly concealing the girlish pleasure she felt. They galloped away off towards the woods. It was still foggy in amongst the trees but in an early-morning-cheerful sort of way, not spooky or anything like that.

Maddie breathed in the crisp fresh air deeply and felt the end of her nose start to get pink. "Where're we going?"

"You'll see. C'mon, I'll race you to Crater Lake!" he took off and Maddie laughed and followed, pressing her knees against Buttercup's sides to try and at least catch up even if she never could ride as fast as Clark.

The horse kicked up dew off the plants and in no time her pajama pants were completely sodden on the hems but she didn't even notice. She halted at Crater Lake and stared. Clark was no where in sight and she wondered if perhaps she'd outrun him for once.

She gazed around, waiting, while Buttercup shuddered underneath her and bent down to chow down on the river grass.

Maddie found herself looking around at the cliffs that bordered Crater Lake. They were high and reminded her of castle walls because you could look up and see the edge of each cliff but not the hills on the other side so it was just grass and trees and other foliage silhouetted perfectly against the sky.

She was just contemplating how she might draw a picture of these trees and cliffs when her eyes froze on a lone figure standing at the top of one of them. She squinted but in the dim light of the morning and through the steam rising from the lake, she couldn't see the person's face. She squinted, feeling more and more nervous.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her and she snapped her head around and nearly screamed.

"Whoa, hey!" Clark rode up to her and came to stand beside her. "Are you okay?"

Maddie looked back at the cliff. It was empty of everything but the usual trees and shrubs. She looked around at all the other edges of the cliffs and across the lake to the opposite bank. There was no one.

"Yeah….I'm fine."

She could feel Clark's eyes watching her and she turned Buttercup away awkwardly, still searching around the lake and desperately hoping it'd been her imagination. Clark rode Shadow up next to her.

"Hey, you sure you're okay?" he watched her face tentatively but she nodded and forced a smile.

"Yeah. So where are we going?"

He hesitated but decided not to press the issue for now. "Follow me." he led her up on top of one of the hills and down the other side of it, through the two fields that divided the lake from town and down into the road. They rode for a long time, chatting about different things, school mostly, and then finally reached the small shops that lined the street sides.

They trotted at an easy pace down into the near-empty side walk, past the old flower shop that still had "Nell's Flow r hop" emblazoned in faded orange letters on the front window, and right up to the Talon door. There was a sign reading "Closed for the day" hanging on the other side.

"This is us," said Clark, smiling mischievously at her. He jumped down off his horse and Maddie followed suit, still incredibly curious. Clark took both horses' reins and led them down the ally and around the corner behind the building, out of sight. When he came back, he couldn't help but smile at the confusion Maddie could easily feel on her face. He came up and opened the door. "After you."

She grinned and walked inside. The Talon was empty which didn't surprise her due to the "closed" sign and the fact that was still only a quarter after six in the morning. Clark followed her in and strode across the room towards the stairs. She followed.

"Clark, where are we going?" she laughed as he stood, poised dramatically with his hand on the doorknob for the entrance into the Talon's apartment.

He paused and smiled at her. "Happy Birthday, Maddie." he swung the door open.

"SURPRISE!"

Maddie jumped and stared. Chloe, Lois, her Grandma, and Mrs. Kent all stood in their pajamas, beneath a pink banner on which was written in pale yellow letters, "Happy Birthday!", all around the room hung pink streamers and yellow balloons, and when Maddie turned, Clark was beaming at her.

He came up and gave her shoulder a little squeeze. The smile on her face made her jaw ache but she didn't care. This was defiantly the best day of her life.

* * *

Okay, there's the first one! I know, it's kind of fluffy right now but bear with me and reviews of all kinds are more than welcome! 


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, here's number two. It may still be a little too fluffy but again: that won't last forever! Thank you for your reviews, they meant a lot to me and were very helpful. ) Enjoy!

* * *

The soft sound of dripping pipes, the quiet tapping of people at their computers, and the otherwise absolute silence in the room were all completely shattered as someone shouted furiously making him spin suddenly on his heal and stare at the man storming madly through the basement level of the old building.

"Dead!" Swinford hollered at him. "He's dead, you idiot, and it all your fault!" Neil considered an answer but everything that came into his mind was sure to get a less than positive response so he decided to keep his trap shut. Swinford came to stand in front of him, looking for all the world like he desperately wanted to take his employee's head off as his hands balled into fists. "And I suppose you have some kind of excuse for why you completely bungled your only job?!"

There was no getting out of it this time, Neil knew he had to answer so he drew in his breath defiantly and said, in a voice as firm as he could make it, "There were complications, Mr. Swinford. I did my best but the man wasn't totally sane to begin with -"

"Shut up!" Swinford snapped. "You had one job, Bishop, _one_! And you let him get killed."

"Sir, with all due respect, the failure wasn't for lack of trying -"

He scoffed at that. "You're done trying, Bishop. You want to try something? Well try this: you're fired!" he stomped away.

Neil sighed. He was tired of this job and he had been planning to quit anyway. He just wished Swinford hadn't had the satisfaction of making firing him. He found a box under one of the access ladders and started filling it with the contents of his desk. One by one the paperweights, the folders, the stapler, the pencils, and the plaque reading "Neil Bishop" went into it. When he'd been told he'd been given a job at the Daily Planet, he was through the roof in excitement.

Even when he found out he would be working on the basement level, he didn't mind. It'd been his dream to work here and he was determined to work his way up and out.

But Gerard Swinford was a different case. Neil knew that the work he'd been doing for the man was unethical but after the freak from Belle Reve had been murdered, (either by his own hand or somebody else's, he didn't know) he was sure that it was illegal, whatever Swinford had had in mind and he was glad to be out of it. And then there was the girl…

He tossed the picture frame into the box and winced as the glass broke and small pieces fell down around the other miscellaneous items and came to rest on the bottom of the box.

He took out the broken frame and delivered it to the trash can next to his desk after removing the picture. Three smiling faces looked at him with excitement. There was no reason why Donna and the kids should know what he did. After all, he hadn't really done anything. But all his hopes of becoming a reporter at the Planet were now gone. They would have to know _that _at least. He sighed, scooped up the last of his things, and lugged the box up the stairs.

* * *

"O-oh, Chloe! It's beautiful!"

"You like it?"

"I _love_ it, thank you so much!" Maddie wrapped the thin silver chain around her neck clasped the two ends together on the other side, letting the small pink butterfly lie against her chest.

"Okay, me next," said Lois, picking up a suspicious looking lumpy parcel. "Now, I promise, it's not crayons."

Maddie laughed as she tore back the wrapping. Underneath sat a box of brand new coloring pencils topped with a square shaped blue sharpener. "Oh, wow!" Maddie brushed her hand gently over the pencils, the drawing possibilities already growing in her mind. "Thanks, Lois."

"Oh, yeah well, I figured you might need some new ones soon, no big deal."

"Yeah, sure," Clark grinned. "Okay, this next one is from me and Mom and your Grandma."

Maddie looked around curiously. Seeing no other packages, she turned her gaze questioningly back on Clark. Martha went over and opened the door to the walk-in closet and out ran a small, golden colored puppy, sniffing at the floor as it went. It ran straight up to Maddie and licked the hand holding the pencils. She gasped.

"Is - is he mine?"

"Yup! Picked him out today, your Grandma said she wouldn't mind having a growing guard dog at the house, long as you can train him not to Pompeii the stained glass windows," said Chloe.

"Ohh…." she sighed, stroking its soft baby fur as it sat in front of her knees. She looked up at the five smiling faces that she considered being her family. "Thank you all so much…this is the best birthday I've ever had!"

She jumped up and hugged each conspirator around the waist and talked and laughed with them all so hard, she was completely out of breath by the time Martha called everyone to the dining room.

"I know you're not supposed to have sugar in the morning," her grandmother smiled down at her. "But I think that Grandparents tend to be the most well known for letting you anyway." she winked.

Maddie came and sat at the table as a pink-flowered cake with twelve yellow candles was placed in front of her and as the lights dimmed they all joined in singing, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, dear Maddie, Happy Birthday to you!"

"Make a wish!" Chloe called.

Maddie squeezed her eyes shut. But then she opened them again. She looked around at all of them, Martha, Chloe, Lois, Grandma…and Clark. All that she wanted most was standing in a circle around her. She didn't ever want this moment to end.

She closed her eyes again and thought hard. Then she had it. Keeping the words in her head, she blew hard on the candles and put them all out in one breath.

Everyone cheered as Lois turned the lights back up again and they all sat, except Martha and her Grandma who remained standing to cut the cake.

Unfortunately, somewhere half way through the eating process, the dog on the floor got overly curious and jumped on the table, knocking Lois's plate on the floor and dumping milk all over her lap.

Martha gasped, Chloe, Clark, and Maddie laughed, and Lois sneezed several times into her napkin before mopping it up.

Afterwards, Clark went to go check on Buttercup and Shadow leaving the dishes up to Chloe and Martha, while Maddie rolled all over the floor with her new friend, racking her brain trying to find a name for it.

* * *

"Hey, Neil! Where you goin' bro?" Neil turned at the sound of his friend's voice and sighed at the coming explanation he had not wanted to give.

"Ah….home."

Liam strode up, grinning from ear to ear as usual. "What, you get off early or -" he stared at the box in Neil's arms. "Oh man… you get sacked?' the smiled disappeared completely.

"Yeah…but don't sweat it I mean, I don't think I'll miss the basement too much."

"Oh, c'mon, don't talk like that! Look, wa-da-ya say I talk to the old prune? I mean, he can't just -" Liam broke off with the ringing of that fact that Swinford ("the old prune"), could "just do" anything he wanted to, written in disparaging clearness all over his face.

"Hey man, its okay. I'll miss the Planet…but I'll be okay. Don't be mad."

"No way, bro." Liam shook his head firmly. "This isn't the end of it; I'll wipe the basement floor with that geezer's carcass before I let that be it for you."

Neil shook his head, smiling at his friend's determinedness. "It's alright. Don't get into any trouble; you've got a great job here! There's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy it."

He gave him a good-natured whack on the shoulder and a parting nod. Liam watched him walk over to the elevators and press the down button. The doors opened obligingly and Neil stepped in, giving Liam a wave and a half-hearted, half smile before the door slid shut.

"I won't without you here," Liam exhaled in frustration. He marched across the room to a small desk and looked it over, wishing she was here to help him out now. But she wasn't and he'd just have to wait.

He sat down in desk chair, looking absentmindedly around at the Daily Planet reporters, columnists, and coffee bearers before turning his lack of attention to the décor of the desk area. For the most part, it was a mess. He knew she didn't like keeping her desk neat and it rather added to her perky personality.

What little space there was displayed mostly a lot of reports, first, second, third, forth, and fifth drafts of goodness-knew-what, and some miscellaneous picture frames. One of them, he recognized to be the young reporter's father; the other two was of her and two of her friends. One, tall, dark haired, and wearing blue and red, the other (a girl looking to be about twenty or twenty-one) wearing pink and sporting black hair the fell down past her shoulders. They all stood under a sign that said "Smallville High: Go Crows!" in bright red and yellow.

He prepared himself for the wait as a few passerby's looked at him curiously and wondered why in the world a young man they knew to be named Liam Quinn was parked behind a plaque that read clearly: "Chloe Sullivan, Reporter"

He ignored them and listlessly watched the second hand tick sluggishly around the face of the Daily Planet Level No. 3 clock, the lack of ideas for getting his best friend out of this mess mocking him with voices that sounded a lot like the tapping of keyboards for all the people still safely employed like him.

* * *

"Thanks for your help, Mom. I think she had a good time."

"Did Rachel take her home then?"

Clark nodded over the wheel, slowing to let another car pass. "Yeah…"

Martha looked over at him expectantly before asking the question she'd been deliberating bringing up for some time now. "Sweetheart, how are you doing?"

Clark glanced at her nervously. "Doing?"

"After…well I know you and Lana…?"

He stared intently at the road, bent on not answering that one. The road down to the Kent Farm came into view and he slowed as the car rumbled over the old dirt road. "I'm okay," he said agitatedly.

"Are you?" the car stopped and he turned the engine off, sitting back in his seat.

"No…not really. But there's nothing I can do about it."

Martha sighed and put a hand on his shoulder, pressing forth all the encouragement she could muster. "I'm sure it'll be okay, Clark."

"Yeah..." he rolled his eyes slightly. "It always is."

He opened the door and came around the other side, opening the other for Martha. She climbed out and they walked up to the door and inside.

That night, it took Clark nearly three hours to fall asleep. He wasn't sure why, either. Frustrated, he assumed it was because of Lana but something else nagged at the back of his mind that he couldn't put his finger on.

Despite his lack of sleep, he was incredibly tired and unable to think straight even though he couldn't fall asleep.

Eventually, sleep came. But the strangest dream's came with it. He dreamt of Maddie riding Buttercup and she saw the shadow of a man on a cliff and then he was walking around the Daily Planet and Shelby was following him and suddenly, Shelby turned into a man Clark didn't recognize and the man laughed at him and told him that he "can't save her, no matter how many powers you have" and then he stood in his barn in front of a huge pile of hay and Maddie was standing in the center of a slough of broken glass and tears ran down her disappointed face. "Why weren't you there, Clark? Why didn't you save me? You promised." and she vanished.

Clark woke up with his eyes wide and the sun pouring in on him with unwanted brightness. When his vision cleared, he didn't remember the dream.

* * *

"I thought I could hear the hum of an artist's engine up here," her grandmother smiled as she came up the stairs to Maddie's room. "Enjoying the new pencils?"

She nodded vigorously. "I love them. But I still don't know what to call the puppy." she swept a hand through the piles of paper and showed that upon each one was an excellent drawing of the dog. "I've been drawing him to sort of … see what he looks like in my head, but it's not really helping.

"Well, I'm sure you'll think of something. That's half the fun of it."

Maddie sighed but smiled anyway. She could tell her grandmother was sensing that something troubled her. But Maddie didn't want to say so nor talk about it, so the longer she could convince her grandmother she was fine, the more time she had to convince herself as well.

* * *

Chloe walked up to her desk and stopped, looking confused. "Liam? Something wrong?"

He stood up. "Hey, Chloe. I uh…I need your help with something. Neil was fired yesterday; I've been waiting to talk to you."

"Neil… Neil Bishop? On level one?"

"Yeah… Swinford just let him go and I… I need to know why, maybe there's something I can do."

"Yeah, no that's fine. I'm glad you came." she came over and sat down at her desk facing the computer and chewed her lip anxiously feeling Liam's eyes watching her hopefully from behind. She easily hacked into the employee records and typed in "Bishop, Neil" on the browser. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just ask your friend yourself?"

Liam sighed and shook his head. "Neil is always convinced that he can do okay no matter what and doesn't let anyone help him if he can manage it. But the guy's got a wife and two kids to feed. He needs this job and I'm guessing if Swinford fired him, he's gonna do the thing properly and blacklist him, too, and I don't want to let that happen."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Chloe nodded astutely. Then a file appeared on the search engine results. "Okay, here it is." she double clicked on it and the computer froze for a moment.

Then an error message appeared.

_Cannot open file: Bishop, Neil. It is being used by another person or program._

_Close any programs that might be using this file and try again._

"Shoot," Chloe sighed. "Well, we can wait a little while and try again. Meantime, tell me what all you know."

Liam shrugged. "Not much of anything, really. I mean, Neil just comes upstairs one day with his office in a box and says he's been bounced and then just leaves. I mean I know it was Swinford and I'm guessing he kicked him out because he did something wrong, but I have no clue what."

Chloe nodded, giving the file another shot. Same message. But something about this sparked the reporter in her and she wanted to get to the bottom of it, even if there wasn't one.

* * *

_Rrrriiiingg _the old phone shrieked raucously from the counter. And then again. _Rrrriiiingg _more insistently until Rachel came and picked it up. "Hello, Rachel McKnight speaking?"

"Mrs. McKnight this is Dr. Celestin with the Belle Reve Sanitarium?"

Rachel felt her stomach tense. "Yes?"

"I'm very sorry, mam' but I'm afraid your son has died, only two nights ago. We weren't sure how to contact you."

"M- My Tyler?"

"Yes, mam'. I'm truly sorry."

"How…did he die?"

The poor man hesitated at the question, being obviously new at his job and no good at gently relaying tragedy. "Stab wound, mam," he said as fast as he could. "Self inflicted. I'm sure he didn't suffer."

"Alright," Rachel replied steadily. "Thank you for calling."

"Certainly, mam," he said in a relieved voice. "Good day."

"Good day." she slid the phone down and set it slowly on its receiver. She sighed deeply. "Maddie?" she called timidly.

"Yes, Grandma?" came the child's voice.

"Come downstairs, sweetheart, I…I need to talk to you."

* * *

More later! Reviews are very welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, so here is number three. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Tell you what, how bout I give you the routing point and the filing password, and you can just email me when it loads," Chloe suggested. "I need to get home anyway."

Liam nodded, looking tired himself. "Yeah, sounds good. Thanks for helping me out, Chloe. Working here without Neil…. I dunno, just wouldn't be the same. We're practically brothers, we've known each other since we were kids, he's part of the reason I started working here in the first place."

"No problem, Liam. I know what you mean." she smiled encouragingly at him. "I'd do anything for my best friend, too." he bit his lip and nodded, the determination coming back into his face. "Okay, now don't forget to email me when you have his file. There's something about this that…" she shrugged, a mischievous glint in her eyes she didn't bother hiding. "I don't know, but I think there's more here than meets the eye."

"Or maybe you just don't like Swinford," he offered.

"We-ell, who does?"

He laughed feebly as she wrote down the routing point, the password, and her email address. "Thanks again, Chloe."

"Sure thing."

* * *

She went up the stairs like it was an automatic action, like breathing. Each foot hit each step softly as she went, staring straight ahead.

"Maddie? Sweetheart, are you alright?"

She nodded but didn't turn around or speak and she walked straight from the stairs to her bedroom. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She felt strange. One thing she knew for sure, she wasn't upset about her father being dead, not really. But she felt suddenly alone and this made her confused.

Then she had it. She had just gotten used to the idea that she had a father (however cruel and murderous he was) and now she was an orphan again. The feeling she felt wasn't really sadness, just a longing. A longing for her mother. She needed her mother so much, or at least some piece of her. Now she had no father, she needed some evidence of her mother.

Her first impulse was to run to the attic and start rummaging through boxes again. But the hope of finding anything was a foolish one, she knew she was kidding herself to think there was a single box she hadn't already gone through. The dog on the floor sniffed questioningly at her shoes and looked up at her. She sighed.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked, kneeling down next to his neck. He yawned and lay down contentedly. She remembered back in Clark's barn, petting Shelby and talking to him softly. She'd always liked talking to animals, as long as no one could hear her. The dogs and cats and fish she'd met, they didn't talk back. It made her feel like she could tell them anything and only them.

And then she met Clark.

She sighed and scratched the puppy under it's ears. She wanted to talk to it, but it wasn't the same as talking to Clark. It was then that she made up her mind. She got up and left her room, grabbing her jacket off the back of the chair.

* * *

The glass shards fell and landed in a circle around her. She stood in the mist of it, tears falling down her face. She looked so disappointed. She'd thought he would help her and he'd failed. "Why weren't you there, Clark? Why didn't you save me? You promised."

Clark sat up so straight, he tumbled off the couch and fell on the floor, accidentally kicking the remote off the table. The TV was blaring some show he wasn't interested, meaning he most likely fell asleep watching his show and there was now a different one playing. In light of this, he wondered vaguely how long he'd been asleep.

He picked up the remote and switched off the TV. The sudden lack of white noise made his ears ring and he stood up and walked into the kitchen.

"Mom?"

She turned around and smiled. "Hey, sweetie, looks like you fell asleep." she studied his face looking concerned. "Clark are you alright? You look like you're going to be sick. Which is a little strange for you," she added.

"Yeah I'm…okay."

"Alright…well I've got a meeting this evening that I need to leave for soon… honey, do you want to come? I mean, I know you don't take a lot of interest in stuffy deep-pockets but it's better than being alone all evening."

Clark shook his head, pretending to be more sure of himself than he felt. "No, that's okay Mom, you go ahead. Maybe I'll call Chloe over or something," he smiled. It was a lame smile. He could feel it, Martha could see it, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. He didn't really know what was bothering him so there was no reason to talk about it.

"….Okay, if you're sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

* * *

Feeling discouraged, Liam half heartedly double clicked the file. Nothing. The waiting was killing him. He sat back in his desk chair, the sound of the city outside of his apartment building boring into his eardrums more than ever.

He tried again and blinked twice as the page opened, disbelief making him feel a little excited even though he hadn't found out anything yet.

The file contained mostly boring information that Liam already knew. Neil's hair color, weight, height, expertise, experience, all this he scrolled past and hit the bottom of the page. At the bottom there was single notation.

_Patient #4858: BRS_

He stared at it. Was this some kind of medical report? "BRS…." he muttered to himself. Something about it sounded or looked familiar.

He loaded his internet browser and typed it in. The top results were Ballistic Recovery Systems and Brotherhood of Railway Signalman. It took about three different pages until Liam stumbled on something that made any kind of sense.

Belle Reve Sanitarium. He clicked the link and was quickly shown a password box. He looked at it, about to close the page when something occurred to him. Out of an act of shear morbid curiosity that he himself didn't understand, he typed in "Donna".

What if Neil was really working on reconnaissance for Swinford? What if it was something about Belle Reve? He clicked "Submit".

The website page loaded and in the corner there was a little margin reading "Hello, Dr. Bishop" next to the sign out link.

On the page itself there were three links. One was to a website called _Smallville History Central_, another was _The Daily Planet Article#12 7/25/97_, and the third was an internal link reading, _Patient #4858_

He opened each of these in separate windows. At the Smallville History Central, he found two links that had been colored purple and he clicked both cyber foot prints and while waiting for them to load, clicked the Daily Planet link. The article had been written in 1997 and held a picture of a mangled vehicle that looked as though it had imploded and the glass was all inside the car or else not there at all.

_Teri Van Horn dies in freak car accident at age twenty-seven_, it read.

He opened the two fully-loaded history pages. One appeared to be a story of the same kind (a women named Teri Van Horn dying in a car accident), the other was of a young man being injured in a stained glass window factory during Smallville's first meteor shower, three years earlier.

He brought up the last page titled P-No. 4858. There he found a picture of a man with sandy blond hair making a sour face at the camera and next to it a smaller profile picture. Next to both pictures was a description.

Name: McKnight, Tyler

Number: 4858

Previous Occupation: Stained Glass Artisan

Underneath it was a study file in red lettering.

Suspected Ability: Glass Control

Status: Deceased

* * *

Clark super-sped up to the loft and sat down with a sigh onto the couch. A warm July breeze came through the open window and flipped up the corners of a few papers on the desk that he'd forgotten to put away. Shelby cam bouncing up the stairs and sat down beside him, staring directly ahead, pretending he didn't want Clark to reach over and scratch his head. Clark grinned and did so anyway and Shelby took it happily.

Just then, the dog's head snapped around and Clark's hearing picked up the sounds of feet running down the road. He got up and looked out the window in time to see a pink-jacketed figure go into the house. He increased the range of his hearing and listened as whoever it was went inside, walked around and then ran back outside and towards the barn.

A few moments later, Maddie came breathlessly up the steps and halted at the top.

"Clark…can I talk to you?"

"Sure you can, what's the matter?" he asked, coming over to sit on the couch and inviting her to do the same.

She did and was silent for a long time, considering. Finally she looked at him and began slowly, "Grandma got a phone call today. She said my dad died."

Clark stared at her, unsure how to answer. "I'm sorry" didn't seem right somehow, nor did "So what" which would probably be Lois' tactless reply. "Are…Are you okay?" he asked instead.

"I'm fine, it's just… I wanted to find a picture of my mom and I can't. And I think Grandma's sad and now I don't have any parents at all and I just…" she exhaled, looking uncertain. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"You know you can anytime, Maddie," he said encouragingly. "And you know, I don't think you not having any parents makes you an orphan."

She frowned a little. "Then what does?"

"Well, not having any family. You know, my birth parents…" he shook his head, unsure how to finish that particular sentence. "My birth parents are sort of…dead, too. But that didn't mean I didn't have a family. The people who cared most about me, my parents and friends…at the risk of sounding sappy, they were and _are_ my family." she smiled a little. "You know, I think if you look around, you'd find all the pieces you need to make a family." he shrugged. "You can start with your Grandmother."

"And maybe Mrs. Kent could be my mom?" she asked timidly.

Clark grinned. "I know she'd love it if you'd think so."

"And Chloe…maybe she's my sister…?"

"Yeah, defiantly!"

She pressed her lips together in a half-hidden smile. "And maybe Lois, too."

"If you insist."

Maddie laughed at that. Then she became more serious and had the look of someone about to ask an enormous favor. "And Clark?…maybe….maybe you could be my brother?"

He smiled softly and nodded. "Of coarse I will." She bit her lip and gave a smile that didn't show from the mouth but from her sparkling eyes and her glowing face. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he hugged her tightly back. "I always will be," he added quietly.

* * *

The sun set. Back in the house, the phone rang but no one answered it and the machine said into the deafening silence, "Hi, you've reached the Kent residents. Please leave a message, or if you're with the board of directors, call 555-8528. Thanks!…….._beeeeeeep_ Hello, Martha, this is Rachel. I'm calling to see if Maddie's still there, she told me she wanted to go to see Clark, but it's getting dark now and I just need to know if I should come pick her up….oh, and tell Clark thank you. Whatever he's said to Maddie…I'm sure it will do her good. Alright, bah-bye! _cli-click…… beeeeeeep _Tuesday, 9:04pm. _beep _End of messages."

All night he'd been digging and his mind felt so overloaded with information he wasn't sure what he had gathered and what was pure speculation. He sighed and massaged his temples slowly, feeling tired and worn out.

He decided that now would be a good time for a break. He went down to the lobby, drank some disgusting vending-machine coffee, went outside in time to be drenched by a sudden down-pour, came back with his shoes squeaking, went back up to his room, took a shower, fell asleep on the couch, and woke up somewhere around ten in the morning. In a panic, he thought he was late for work and then laughed himself for freaking out because of course, he didn't have work again until Thursday.

Feeling much more refreshed, he went again to his sleeping computer and started copying all the relevant information he'd gathered to a single email.

After compiling Tyler McKnight's records, his personal life info, the history about the crash, what he'd found out about McKnight's younger life, and basically everything he could find, he typed in Chloe's email address in the box and moved his curser over to the "send" button.

But there, he stopped. He looked at the email thoughtfully. Perhaps it would be a good idea to read it over before he sent it out.

He did. What's more the first pattern started to form in his head. Neil had been hired to find this McKnight guy and find out everything about him for Swinford. When he'd died, Swinford fired Neil which mean that whoever he was, he was important.

Tyler McKnight had been arrested for stealing seven 5-carat diamonds but they had been recovered so the only reason he could think of was that McKnight could actually control glass.

Liam was tempted to believe that this was true, due to all the stories he'd heard and the articles he'd read about some of the people in Smallville and their special abilities.

The one thing that didn't present itself was how knowing all the Neil wouldn't have told him, would get his friend his job back. Liam knew that if somehow he could bring McKnight back to life, he could offer him as a bargaining chip, for whatever reason Swinford wanted to hire him or talk to him or…whatever it was he wanted.

But he wasn't going to be pulling a Lazarus any time soon. In other words, there was nothing. Unless…

A thought hit him so suddenly, it seemed ludicrous however the fact that he was having anything like an idea made him excited and he was determined to find out if he could be right.

Scrolling down, he found McKnight's personal information which he had skimmed over earlier without a second thought, but what was now his only hope.

At last, he struck gold. Tyler McKnight had a daughter.

* * *

"Why weren't you there?" the glass fell all around her and she cried desperately as his own voice mocked in his ear, "Even with all you powers, you can't save her."

"You promised. You promised, Clark." the tears fell. He tried to get up but suddenly, he couldn't move and her hurting eyes stared at him with such disappointment. "You promised, Clark." it echoed in his head. "Clark…Clark? Clark!"

"Clark, hey Clark wake up!" Chloe was standing over him and shaking his shoulders.

He awoke fast and sat up, looking around him. "Chloe?"

"Yeah. Clark, what happened?" she sat down next to him, putting a hand on his arm anxiously. "I didn't find you in the house and when I came out here I heard you talking, almost yelling. Are you okay?"

"Uh….I'm fine… I just - I called Maddie's grandmother and she came to pick her up and after they left… I called you didn't I? yeah, and then I came up here and I guess I…" he shrugged, making as light of the nightmare still making his stomach churn as he could. "I guess I fell asleep."

"Yeah, or something. Are you sure you're alright?- you look flushed."

"I'm fine, Chloe, don't worry." he reassured her as much as possible with a smile and stood up. "So, I had a question for you."

She still watched him intently but decided against pressing the subject. "Shoot."

"Do you remember about… two years ago when I started getting into that girl's dreams?"

"Yeah, Sarah Conroy, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, that's right. Well I never did figure out how that happened, but I think maybe… maybe it's happening again? I don't know but it's strange… I keep having this - recurring nightmare and it's really vivid and it's just… I dunno, but it's worrying me."

"So I take it you were having one when I came." she wasn't asking, Chloe knew him too well. He nodded. "So, aside from the realistic tendencies, are there any similarities between those dreams and these ones?"

"That's part of the weird thing, the girl in it isn't someone I've never met -" he kept talking fast, to keep Chloe from asking who. "And it's not the kind of thing where I'm asleep for a long time, plus it's not all Twilight Zone or anything it's just…weird."

"Well, you're not exactly normal, Clark."

He gave her a yeah-thanks-for-reminding-me look that made her look apologetic but also make an indisputably shrug. "Well what do you think?"

"I'm not so sure you're dreams are exactly Jacob's Rope Ladder, either. I mean, to me they sound like regular nightmares. Which isn't fun but there's nothing to worry about. People have recurring dreams all the time." she looked suspiciously at his growing smile. "What?"

"It's just that, I never thought Miss Conspiracy Theory would ever say something like that is at all normal."

"Hey, I'm not copping out, I'm just saying I don't think you should worry. It'll only make it worse."

He sighed and then nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Chloe."

She smiled brightly at him. "Anytime."

* * *

Reviews welcome and I plan to add a chapter every other day so hang in there! 


	4. Chapter 4

Here's number three, tell me what you think!

* * *

"Come in!" called a surly voice from the other side of the door.

Liam took a deep breath and walked in. On later speculation, he supposed if he'd wanted to show his confidence (though he felt none), it probably would have been better to walk in with a brisk stride and cut straight to the point, giving no time for answers until he'd said what he'd wanted to say, and show the old prune who was boss.

Well he did _that_, alright.

"Um…sir?" he nearly squeaked as he poked his head tentatively around the door.

"What." Swinford didn't even bother looking up at him, which was probably the only reason he plucked up enough courage to come in.

He walked slowly over to the old man's desk and winced as the door slammed shut. There was no extra chair so he simply stood there, wondering greatly where in the world his voice had got to.

Shuffling his feet, he began to speculate (and indeed even hope) that Swinford had forgotten him standing there. No such luck. "What do you want, Quinn." it wasn't a question, it was an order.

"I came to talk to you about Neil Bishop," he spit out quickly.

At last, Swinford looked at him. "Yes?"

"And… I think I know why you fired him and - I think….on my computer, I have all the information I need to do the job he… didn't do." Swinford continued to stare at him passively. "And," Liam continued uncertainly. "And if I give you the information, or do the job myself… I want you to give Neil his job back." he felt out of breath but relieved that the worst was over.

Swinford put his hands on the glass-top desk, placing his fingertips together condescendingly. "Quinn, I have a policy here at the Planet. Do you know what that might be?"

"No, sir," Liam replied in a heavy exhale.

"I don't hire or bargain or negotiate with any employees who cannot do their job properly, or who resist my authority, as you have just done." Liam gulped. "However," Swinford went on. "If you have indeed found a any information you believe will be of any use to us, I urge you to bring it forth. I assure you, it will be appreciated."

"But…no!" Liam blinked at his own daring but was too indignant to care. "No, I'm not going to give you what I have…or - or help you at all, unless you give Neil his job back!"

Swinford, looking annoyingly unfazed, picked up a thick stack of paper and tapped the bottom edges against the surface of the desk to even them out, a matter-of-fact air making Liam dread his next sentence. "Well, of course that is up to you, however withholding information can be viewed as an act of conceit and insubordination. Therefore, if you prefer not to be forthcoming, than feel free to join your friend at the unemployment office on 343, just down the road." he stood, the hint of a derisive smile playing about his mouth. "Now if that is all, I'm a very busy man."

Liam opened his mouth to speak again but his strange courage had reached it's limit and dried out like glue cementing his teeth together. He turned and walked out of the office.

* * *

The door creaked open and Maddie walked in slowly, putting one foot in front of the other as though she were stepping on a wire. She was half way to the stairs when she grimaced as the light flicked on and sighed as her Grandmother spoke from the doorway. But she didn't sound angry, although a little concerned and when Maddie turned to face her, she saw her wearing her worn purple sweater and a worried expression, looking like she was about to go somewhere.

"Maddie! I was just about to come and get you -" she rushed over and knelt down in front of the embarrassed twelve-year-old, taking her face in both hands and (evidently) checking for major injuries. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay… now," she added softly. Then in a clearer voice, "I'm sorry I didn't come home sooner, Grandma."

"Well, I forgive you. Just don't worry me like that," she said, smiling now and standing up. "It's long past your bedtime and your dog has been barking practically non-stop. Have you found a name for him yet?" she asked as an afterthought.

"No," Maddie sighed. "But I'll think of something."

"Alright. Off to bed then!"

"Okay, g'night!"

"Good night, darling. Sweet dreams."

Maddie smiled back and headed up the stairs, unraveling the braids in her hair. Just outside her room, she heard the dog yapping.

She dressed in her nightgown and opened the window, letting the warm summer breeze come through, and suddenly, she was back in Clark's barn and the smell of cows and straw and the sound of crickets filled her ears and nose. She lay down on her bed and the dog jumped up, too. She pulled the quilt Grandma had made up under her bare arms and stared at the opposite wall and the wind from outside blew across her face.

"I don't think," she said to either the dog or herself, "I could break any glass right now if I tried."

She drifted off easily but when she was asleep, she was still in the barn and everything was quiet and Clark sat next to her as they watched the sun setting, though the pink-golden light never ebbed away.

* * *

The pounding on the door increased in both volume and urgency and with a slightly annoyed "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Neil strode to the door and opened it to see Liam's panicked face staring at him.

"Dude, I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, sure, come on in." Neil stepped back and allowed himself a bewildered frown as Liam stepped past him inside. "What's the matter?" he asked after closing the door again.

"Oh man, I really put my foot in it this time, bro. I went and tried to pick up your assignment where you left off thinking maybe Swinford would give you your job back." Neil's jaw dropped but he let his friend finish. "So I found out everything about Tyler McKnight and then I figured out about his daughter (I assume you did, too) and then I went to the Old Prune and said I'd tell him what I knew if he'd give you your job back and now he's threatening to fire me instead of hiring you back." he stopped, completely out of breath and ideas.

"O-oh…." Neil groaned into his hands as he sank down on the sofa. "Liam… you didn't tell him about McKnight's daughter, did you?"

"No. I didn't tell him anything, but he's gonna fire me if I don't!"

"Well then, you're going to lose your job because you can _not_ tell him."

"What?"

Neil jumped up looking both mad and a little freaked out. "I told you not to get into this! I found out about the kid and I even followed her and you know what? She's twelve, man! Just had her birthday and you know Swinford is bad news. You think he really wants her to just have a chat? You think that's why he wanted McKnight?"

"I -" Liam faltered, his eyes widening.

"I lost my job and I can't get another one because of it but there was no way I was gonna let him do anything to her, you got me? You can not let that happen. Swinford's a murdering criminal, I just wish I could have kept you out of it." he exhaled heavily. "I know you were trying to help…and thanks. But you can't let him get a hold of the information you have. I thought I deleted everything but I just hadn't gotten rid of my Belle Reve fake account, yet. Where do you have it all?"

"On my computer back at my apartment," he replied weakly.

"Okay, you need to go erase it all, man. Everything."

Liam nodded, his resolve painful but inevitable and necessary. "Okay…I'm really sorry, Neil."

Neil smiled a little, looking sympathetic. "It's okay. I appreciate it, but next time…" he shrugged with a half-laugh. "Just ask, you know?" Liam nodded. "Okay, now go back to your place and get rid of it."

"Alright."

* * *

Liam clambered out of the car, ignored the reproving "sir, it's nearly midnight" look on the doorman's face and raced up to his room. He opened the door and there he stood on the threshold, staring.

Completely ransacked. And the computer was gone.

* * *

"Yes, Mr. Luther," Gerard Swinford almost chuckled into the receiver. "What happened with McKnight was very unfortunate. But I assure you, I can deliver someone just as good for your facility……yes sir. Thank you, sir."

He set the phone down on his desk and smirked at it, as if communication with a Luther was just one more thing to fit in the palm of his hand.

After a moment of savoring his success, he picked up the phone again and pressed the buttons he knew so well.

"Hello, Wade. I have a job for you."

* * *

The phone rang loudly and Martha, already in the kitchen, was quick to answer it, holding it to her ear with her shoulder, continuing to mix her cornbread batter with the whisk. "Hello, Senator Kent speaking?"

"Hello, Martha. It's me, Rachel."

"Oh, hello Rachel, what can I do for you?"

"Well actually, I was wondering if you or Clark were going to be home today?"

"Well, I have a meeting in Metropolis this afternoon but Clark will be here."

"Oh, wonderful, I was wondering if I could send Maddie over? I…. I'm going to Metropolis this afternoon for… it's - it's Tyler's funeral. I wouldn't go but they need me there to sort some things out and I'd rather not bring Maddie along, you know? It might be a little hard for her.

"Well, of course you can," said Martha understandingly. "Clark would be glad of the company."

"Excellent, thank you so much, Martha. Bah-bye!"

"Goodbye, Rachel." Martha hung up the phone and set down her bowl. "Clark?" she called up the stairs.

She heard a rushing noise as she came back to the kitchen and Clark was already standing there with an already nearly-empty glass of orange juice in his hand. "Yeah, Mom?"

"Maddie's coming over this afternoon, is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure," he shrugged, his grin displaying his pleasure. "You heading out soon?"

"Yes, I just need to finish up with this…. You know… I still can't get over how good you are with Maddie. I know I've said this but… you father… he'd be so proud of you, sweetheart."

A stab of pain hit Clark in the chest, but it was somewhat softened by the statement. He hoped so. He truly did.

* * *

Maddie opened her eyes and then shut them again quickly. The breeze from last night had become something of a gale and she was contented to simply feel it washing over her face instead of letting it sting her eyes.

The yard behind the house was wide and beautiful in the summertime and at ten o'clock in the morning, with the sun hidden behind clouds and the strong wind in her face, it was rather mysterious in a very pleasant sort of way.

The early morning air made her think back to the horse-ride with Clark just a few days ago. She remembered the sparkle of Crater Lake in the pale sunlight and the trees and shrubs rising on the cliff…

Her eyes suddenly snapped open with the memory of the figure standing there. She'd told herself it'd been her imagination but when she thought back hard, she was sure of what she'd seen.

She looked around and then backed up against the tree self-consciously and slid down to sit on the ground, still probing every direction her eyes could reach.

This was silly, she knew. But something about the memory gave her an uneasy feeling. Just then, she heard the sound of something small and hard hitting the ground like a rock or a walnut falling out of a tree. She jumped and hugged her knees up against her chest.

"Dog…" she half called out softly, her voice weak even in her own ears. "Do-og?" Maddie knew the dog was inside but if it wasn't making the noise, she wanted it here with her.

Another sound reached her as the strong wind whipped her braids around in her face. It was the quiet footsteps of someone behind her. Somewhere back in the woods, she thought, but it was defiantly there. No one lived through the trees. And no one ever came to number 154 plus she didn't have any friends who walked instead of driving.

She drew her breath fast and suddenly, she couldn't stand it. She leapt up with little agility and stumbled on her hands and knees in the grass. The wind grew louder and rain started to fall. The peace and beauty of the morning were second-guessed in her mind as the rain soaked through her jacked in dripped from her hair and all the while she could still hear the footsteps, closer than ever now. Her run became flat out and panicked. She glanced behind her and nearly screamed and felt she couldn't be running fast enough. Through the pelting rain and the shadows of the trees, she saw the outline of a man standing by the tree where she'd just been sitting.

Maddie ran through the gathering puddles to the door and yanked it open, jerking through and slamming it shut on the other side.

All at once the location of all the windows and doors in the house stood out her mind like red lights on a black wall, pointing out where the house's weak spots were. And there were a lot of them.

It wouldn't be hard to get into the house and her grandmother couldn't protect her.

The dog came clicking and padding down the stairs to look at her innocently, as though it too wanted to proclaim that she had no real protection here.

She raced as fast as she could to the kitchen. "Grandma!"

Her grandmother turned and the smile faded into a confused and concerned look. "Goodness, child! You're soaking wet, what were you doing outside?"

"Grandma, please take me to the Kent's!"

"But…but why? I'm not leaving until -"

"Please!" Maddie almost sobbed, the urgency in her voice making the worried look on Rachel's face grow.

"Maddie, what's the matter?"

Maddie bounced up and down apprehensively on her feet. There was always the possibility that she had imagined the footsteps, that's what her grandmother would say. But the sound she'd heard and the feeling it'd given her? The shadow of the man under the tree? They were not her imagination. They were real. So real, the made her heart beat fast and her fear rise to an alarming level of terror. And if her grandmother couldn't help her and wouldn't take her to the Kent's right away, she knew she'd have to go herself.

She turned on her heal and ran to the door.

"Maddie! Come back!" but she couldn't. The horror of going back out in that storm stared her in the face. But the thought of staying here, trapped in her own house, waiting for whatever or whoever it was, overpowered it. She just needed to get to Clark. As long as she could, she'd be safe. She knew she would.

The wind and the rain fought against her, the lighting split the sky apart and the deafening slash of thunder crashed and roared so loudly it made her ears ring. She slipped on a puddle, mud spattering all over her face, hands, and jeans. Water streamed into her eyes and a stitch began in her side. But she could see the road down to Chandler's field far off in the distance and she had to get there.

But already, her chest was heaving with the effort of breathing and even in the summer, enough rain so early in the morning made her very cold.

"Please," she gasped as she ran on and on. "Let me get there." and just as she spoke it, Maddie collapsed in the middle of the dirt road. Panting hard and letting the rain pour down on her with her light blonde hair tangle around her and her shoes fill with water.

* * *

That's it for now, I'll post a new chapter day-after-tomorrow. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Alrighty, here's number five and thanks to you who reviewed and to you who didn't, it's just so encouraging to know someone's reading this. )

* * *

Clark picked up the phone with a cheerful, "Hi, this is the Kent's, Clark speaking?", employing his super-hearing due to the loud buzzing of the generator.

"Clark! Maddie just ran away from me, I'm in the car but I don't know where she is, she may be trying to get to you. If she comes, please call me. I'm so worried, there was something wrong with her when she came inside from the rain and… just please, if you see her?"

"Yeah, of course," said Clark earnestly. "I'll go… drive around and see if I can find her."

"Oh, would you? My car's so old it doesn't go as fast as it used to…"

"Yeah, no that's fine, I'll call you if I find her."

"Alright, thank you."

"Sure." he immediately hung up the phone and super-sped out the door and down the road. He raced along the road that led down to Hastings, figuring that would be the route Maddie would have taken. All the while the nightmare screamed in his ears so shrilly he could barely hear it but he knew.

Then, he stopped short, coming to a halt a few feet away from a crumpled figure lying in the road. He ran normal-speed up to her and knelt down so fast his phone fell out of his pocket and skittered across the pavement but he didn't pay attention. Putting a hand around the little girl's shoulders, he lifted her up enough to look at her face.

"Maddie?!"

Her eyes fluttered open and became wide but relief was plain to see. "Clark!" she threw her arms around his neck and held on tight as if something had been chasing her and Clark was her lifeline. "Please, you have to get me out of here. I -" she gasped with the effort of breathing normally.

"Yeah, yeah c'mon." he picked her up and started walking down the road towards Hastings. Just then, a shabby old red car drove up and stopped and Maddie's grandmother jumped out and rushed over to them, her house slippers splattering mud up to her ankles.

"What's wrong, is she alright?!"

"Yeah, she's fine she's just tired," Clark smiled reassuringly.

"Oh…" Rachel sighed heavily. "Well… Clark, thank you so much for finding her. Could you put her in the car?"

Clark nodded obligingly and let Maddie down in the back seat of the old Sedan. Maddie's eyes had shut but suddenly, the snapped open and she sat up, grabbing Clark's arm and looking panic-stricken.

"No! Clark, please, don't make me go back! You have to stay with me, you have to, you have to!" the windows of the car began to shake and tremble and Rachel instinctively stepped back.

"Whoa, hey," Clark soothed in a soft, urgent tone. "Maddie, what the matter?"

"Someone…I heard - I was in the yard and…on my birthday at Crater Lake - Clark they'll get into the house!" he broken sentences made little sense but she calmed herself just enough to make the windows stop shaking. "Clark…please?" she said quietly in a small, trembling voice. "I just know… I need to you to save me. You're the only one who can… please…"

_Why didn't you save me?_ Clark looked at her, feeling the pressure in his chest grow and he found himself nodding.

"Okay." he turned to Rachel and she nodded, too, still looking at a total loss. "You can come back the farm with me, okay?"

She bit her lip and nodded numbly, her face flushed and tense. Rachel came around and climbed into the driver's seat and Clark rode shot gun, letting Maddie sprawl out on the seat, still spent after her mad run. But after a little while she sat up and looked out the back window, evidently comforted by the low murmur of the two voices up front and the rain cascading down the windows.

The two made an effort to keep the conversation light to try and calm her down a little. Clark was just about to ask Rachel about what she was planning to do with a particular stained glass window in the basement when suddenly, Maddie screamed.

"Clark!" Rachel slammed on the brakes and Clark snapped his head around to look out the back window. A man stood in the middle of the road but the moment the car stopped, he ran off into the mist of the rain. Rachel was still trying to figure out what Maddie had screamed over as Clark focused and x-rayed the area around the car. He saw the skeleton of a tall, strongly built man running into the woods and coming to a halt in front of a car, getting in, and driving away at a fast pace.

Clark turned his vision back to normal and looked anxiously at Maddie. She looked back at him, her breath coming in and out too fast again as her jaw trembled.

* * *

"Liam? Hey, Liam, wait up!" he stopped his determined stride to the elevator and turned with a grimace to face the young reporter, bobbing her way between the desks and coffee-drinkers to him. "Hey!" she said when she reached him. "What's the deal, did you get a hold of Neil's file?"

"Uh…Yeah - I did."

She looked a little surprised. "And?" she prompted expectantly.

"There… there wasn't anything. I guess the old prune was just in a bad mood."

"No… no, there must have been something else… did you figure out about jobs? Was it something he did wrong? I've been thinking, it might have had something to do with -"

"Geez, Chloe!" Liam snapped harshly without really meaning to and drawing the attention of quite a few other people milling around. "Just… stay out of this," he almost whispered then. "I mean it. There are enough people losing their jobs over it." he climbed into the elevator, pressed the level twenty-three button and just as the doors started to slide shut, Chloe stepped through.

"Hang on a sec. Now you _don't_ tell a reporter something like that and then tell her to stay out of it? Come on, without me you wouldn't even know whatever it is you're not telling!"

"Yeah, and I wish I didn't."

"Look, maybe I can help! I assume you're going to talk to Mr. Swinford, that's why you're going to twenty-three, isn't it?"

"U-ugh, Chloe -" he pressed a hand against his head but she continued on enthusiastically.

"I know the ups and downs of this place pretty well by now… just trust me, I know there's someway I can help?"

The elevator stopped and Chloe quickly pressed the "shut doors" button down, waiting for his answer. After long, uncertain pause, Liam sighed. "Alright."

"Great!" Chloe smiled decisively.

"But not here, let's go to the coffee shop across the street."

* * *

Martha had gone to her meeting already so when Clark came back, the only one waiting to greet them was Shelby, barking loudly as if he wanted to beat out the noise of the thunder which was still booming despite the fact that the rain wasn't falling so hard anymore. Just as they were driving up the road, Rachel's cell phone rang. She struggled with it a moment muttering something about "Never get the hang of this thing" and finally answered it.

"Hello?" pause. "Oh, no, I did remember… but something has come up -"

"It's okay, Mrs. McKnight, you go ahead, I'll stay with Maddie."

"No, Clark, darling. I'm sorry but if someone if following my Maddie, I'm not going to go gallivanting off and leave her alone."

"It's alright, I'll call the police and see what they can do." he tried to give her a reassuring look but to be honest he doubted the police could do anything didn't really intend to call them. But he knew he could protect Maddie better than her grandmother could and if there was someone after her, it would be better to have as few people around as possible.

"I'm not going to - What?" she said suddenly into the phone's speaker. "No, no I'm still here…" she frowned, pressing her lips together.

"I'll be fine, Grandma," said Maddie hoarsely from the back seat. "Clark'll be here."

Rachel bit her lip hard in consideration. "Oh, alright." she spoke into the phone. "I'll be right over." then to Clark as she ended the call, "And I'll be right back."

"We'll be here," he promised. He and Maddie climbed out of the car and Shelby ran up and stepped on Maddie's feet in excitement as Rachel drove away. "Come on," he said after a moment. "Let's go to the loft."

* * *

Chloe followed her informer over to the booth farthest away from the crowds of cheerful people, eager for a cup of coffee between jobs or with a few snatches of gossip.

But what the two intrepid and apprehensive reporters had in mind was far from idle chatter. They both sat and Chloe watched him while he debated where to begin. At last he spoke. And once he did, he seemed to realize how much he'd been waiting to say, how much he needed help with, how much confused him, and how much he wished he'd never followed this particular lead.

Chloe listened without interrupting until he got to a certain point.

"So I copied all that I had on him and that when I figured out about his daughter -"

"What?!" Chloe almost shouted, making a few people stare. She looked around nervously and then continued in a more subdued voice, "You mean Maddie?"

Liam gave her a hard look. "Yeah… how did you know?"

"Liam, you said your computer was stolen - had you put any information about Maddie onto it?"

"Yeah, everything I could find. You don't think Swinford would harass her or anything, do you? I mean, that's what Neil said but I thought he was exaggerating…"

"If he's working for Luther Corp., it's probably a lot worse than that." she was already pulling out her cell phone.

"What are you doing?!" demanded Liam, grabbing her arm in a panic. "Chloe, you can't tell anyone!"

"I have to! Clark needs to know… me and him, we're Maddie's friends and if Swinford knows what she can do and how to find her…" she broke off, afraid to finish. Holding down the number one, she held the phone to her ear and waited, tapping the corner of it impatiently. "C'mon, Clark," she whispered. "Come one."

Out in the road to Chandler's Field, a ringing cell phone frightened away several birds. But Clark was no where near.

Chloe jumped up and walked quickly to the door. "Look, why do you even care?" asked Liam as he followed her. "I mean, if Swinford's after some kid, wouldn't it be better to call her mom?"

"Maddie doesn't have a mom, she lives with her grandmother and when Clark text-messaged me earlier, he said she was going to Tyler McKnight's funeral in Metropolis and Maddie was staying with him." she started dialing the Kent's home number.

"Then shouldn't you just call the police? Why is it so important that your friend -"

"Because!" she returned acerbically, wheeling around to face him just before she'd gone out the door. "I trust him and believe me, if anyone can protect Maddie, it's him."

* * *

Clark's heavy footsteps sounded up the stairs to the loft, followed by Maddie's soft ones. At the top, Clark went over and sat down astride the desk chair, leaving the couch to Maddie.

She looked around her and then sat back on the sofa, the terror and tension that had dominated her young face, now fading as she sighed a little and even smiled.

"Thank you…" she almost whispered.

Clark tilted his head to the side a little, questioningly. "For what?"

"I think you saved my life again. Thanks for… for letting me stay with you. It's kind of like I can hide here." she smoothed at lump in the cushion down with her hand and looked away, out the window.

"You know you can come here anytime you want." he smiled at her but then was forced to turn serious. "Maddie… I need to know, did you see anything? Did you see his face?"

"No," she said, still gazing through the opening in the wall. "It was too rainy at my house and he was too far away at the lake."

"Lake? Wait, you've seen him before today?"

She looked back at him but looked away again quickly and when she spoke, her voice shook slightly. "On my birthday. I don't know whether or not it was the same man but I saw someone. And I heard someone at my house and right before you found me… someone was standing over me…but I was too afraid to look up and see and then he heard Grandma's car and he ran off and then you came." she shook her head at the open window, her voice cracking constantly now and higher as she fought against tears. "I think someone's following me. And I thought it was my dad and when he was dead I thought it would be okay. I thought I was safe. And today when it rained I heard him again… I don't know what to do. I just can't leave here, I'm not safe… I hate it and I'm -" finally she looked at him and tears rand down her face and she still tried not to cry outright. She drew in a shaky breath and looked imploringly at him. "I'm so scared, Clark."

He got off the chair and was about to answer when she jumped off the couch and ran across the floor to him. She threw her arms around him, letting her tears fall down on his shoulder, darkening the red of his jacket.

He held her and said quietly, "You don't have to be, Maddie. I'll protect you, I promise." a low breeze blew the scent of wild flowers through the window and the sun threw their shadow long across the floor. "I promise," he whispered.

* * *

The disparaging reality of the nearly-three-hour drive back to Smallville was one Chloe tried hard ignore while she attempted calling Lois. She'd almost given up hope when suddenly, she heard Lois' voice on the other end which made her jump and almost miss her exit.

"Hey, cuz!"

"Lois, thank goodness, where are you?"

"With Mrs. Kent. I'm telling you, if the board of directors were any more stuffy, they'd all be plushies."

"Wait so…. You're in Metropolis?"

Her cousin's hopeless tone seemed to make Lois concerned. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"I can't explain now but I'm trying to get back to Smallville and I need to get a hold of Clark but he's not answering his phone."

"Did you try their home -"

"I did, it's no good, all I get is the answering machine. Is Mrs. Kent in the meeting right now?"

"Yeah but when she comes out, maybe she can figure out what's wrong… Chloe, what's going on?"

"Maddie may be in danger."

There was an abrupt pause on the other end. "Maddie?" Lois' voice came finally, sounding bewildered.

"Yes, and she's with Clark."

"… Uh…okay, I'll keep trying to call him, how close are you to Smallville?" she asked, talking faster now.

"About a trillion and one miles or it might as well be," Chloe gritted. "Just see what you can do, can you?"

"Sure thing."

Chloe snapped her phone shut and, seeing no cars on the road, sped to an illegal pace down the blacktop.

* * *

"Clark?"

Clark turned around from his vigil at the window in the loft and smiled at her. "Yeah?"

"I… what am I going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't stay forever… and I'm afraid to leave."

"Hey," Clark walked over to her and knelt down at eye level. "It'll be fine, were gonna find out who this is and then he'll be arrested and never bother you again."

"What if -"

Clark took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "Don't worry. You can stay here as long as you need to." he looked into her face and saw the fear still residing there. He groped around in the corners of his mind for a distraction. Finally, he stumbled across a good one. "Your grandmother told my mom that you've been looking for pictures?"

"Yeah…" she smiled looking almost a little embarrassed. "Of my mom… I just don't really remember what she looked like."

He stood up. "Well I think Chloe could help you with that. In the meantime, I have some photos of my own, wanna check them out?"

Maddie smiled and nodded, ready for anything to divert her attention. Clark smiled back and walked over to the desk and opened the middle drawer on the left. From it, he took a shoebox and carried it over to the couch. Maddie slid off and onto the floor on her knees.

Clark, sitting across from her, removed the lid and slid the box between them.

"Who's this?" asked Maddie, holding up a picture of an older man who was partly bold and smiling magnificently.

"That's my uncle Jack. He's not really my uncle but I've always called him that."

Maddie seemed to like the idea and looked at the photo a moment longer before setting it aside and picking up another. "Is this Chloe?"

The scene in the picture was Clark and Chloe, dancing at the Spring Formal. Chloe was smiling brightly at him and the light made her hair glow. She looked so happy. Clark almost sighed with the memory. "Yeah."

"She looks beautiful."

Clark, lost in his own thoughts, almost didn't notice the picture in Maddie's hand for a moment. "What about him? He has really red hair."

Clark nearly laughed outright. "That… is Bart Alan. A good friend and a juvenile delinquent."

Maddie watched him, looking a little confused and then shrugged, picking up yet another. "Wow…. Is this Lana?"

"Uh…" he looked away. "Yeah… that's her."

"I saw a picture last time… where is it?"

"The…the frame broke, I had to throw it away."

"The picture, too?" she stared at him curiously.

Anxious for a subject change, he picked up a different photo. "Oh, here. This is Pete Ross, he used to live here but he moved a little while back."

"Was he your best friend?"

"Yeah… him and Chloe both are."

"What about Lana?" Maddie's little-girlish inquiry was making Clark feel more and more uncomfortable. Fortunately, she read his silence correctly and put her hand into the box once more.

This time, she dug around a little before lifting out a new picture. They went on like this for a long time, picture after picture until the sun began to sink down. Finally, there were only a few pictures left and they had begun to laugh about some of the stories that went with them.

The Maddie flipped over a picture of Clark and a young boy playing basket-ball together. When she asked Clark about it he hesitated, afraid of where the conversation might lead.

"That's Ryan James."

"Is he related to you?"

"No… but he was kind of like a little brother…"

"What happened to him?" she asked, still looking down at the picture.

"He…um…" Clark shook his head and looked away. "He died."

"Oh." the silence created a cumbersome tension before Maddie asked in a very quiet voice, "Did somebody… kill him?"

Clark wasn't sure how to answer. In the end, Ryan had died of a tumor that might not have killed him if it hadn't been for the experiments at Summerholt. But he couldn't tell Maddie that. "No," he said at last. But he wasn't sure she believed him. He never had been very good at lying, unfortunately.

"I'm afraid…somebody's going to kill me."

"Hey!" Clark put a hand on her shoulder, making her look up. "That is never _ever _going to happen, you hear me? Not if I'm here, not if I'm watching you, okay?"

"Okay." she nodded, swallowing hard. Her hand still held the picture tight and Clark gently eased it from between her fingers and added it to the pile.

He took out the last photo in the box. This one was a very familiar face. One that had most likely been on the top and with all the digging around had slipped down to the bottom. "This is my dad," he said, smiling. "Jonathan Kent. The best man that ever lived."

Maddie looked at the picture for a long time. "I wish I could have known him. Then I'd have a whole family." then she laughed lightly. "But I'm glad for the one I have."

"Hey, I just realized." Clark got up and walked over to the desk again, picking up the camera. "There's one picture that belongs in this box that I don't have yet."

"Of who?"

But she got her answer as Clark raised the camera. "Smile!" Looking a little surprised, she smiled and he flashed the picture. "Perfect."

* * *

Okay, that's it for now. Again, I'll post number six day-after-tomorrow. Reviews welcome and thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Here you go, number six. Reviews welcome and thank you again to those of you who reviewed and to everyone reading this. Enjoy!

* * *

Chloe jolted making the car swerve unnervingly as she scrambled for her ringing cell phone. "Please be Clark, please be Clark…" she whispered desperately and flipped it open. "Hello?" 

"Hey, it's me."

"…Hey Lois," replied Chloe, trying hard to keep from sighing. "Anything?"

"Mrs. Kent is out and she said the phone at their house might not be working, she's calling the company now and we're on our way back to Smallville. If it's not that, remember that the power kept going out at their home and that's why we had the party at the Talon? It went out again before we left so Mrs. Kent turned on the generator. So if Clark isn't in the house, maybe he just isn't hearing it ring."

"Maybe so. Thanks, Lo, I'll call you when I can, I'm almost out of Edge City and I should be able to get to Smallville in another half an hour if I floor it."

"Okay, good luck!"

"Bye." she smacked the phone shut and made to drop it in it's pocket and instead, missed the purse entirely. This, however, she didn't notice.

Traffic in Edge City wasn't bad today. It was just possible she could cut her time in half as long as she wasn't arrested. "Clark…" she sighed. "Sometimes I wish all of us had super-speed. Oh well. I'll just have to make up for it."

She stomped on the gas peddle.

* * *

All signs of rain were gone and the last evidence of sun began to disappear behind the trees. Clark wondered where Rachel had gotten to and considered calling her. He reached into his pocket for his phone and then thought better of it. 

"He could fix it," said Maddie thoughtfully from the floor in front of the sofa.

"Huh?"

"My dad… when he… when I was with him he gave me a pink butterfly made of glass and then I broke it," she shrugged, looking perhaps a little proud of herself. "Then he closed his hand and when he opened it was all fixed. He could break glass like me but he could fix it, too. Wish I could do that."

"Well, you know…" Clark sat down on the floor beside her. "It wouldn't surprise me if you could sooner or later."

"Maybe… he could break glass through walls and I didn't used to be able to do that but Grandma says one night she was watching TV and her coffee mug broke. It was the same night I had a bad dream and woke up scared. I still can't control it sometimes."

"It's okay, you'll get it eventually. In the meantime, I think you're doing pretty well."

She smiled. "Thanks, Clark."

"Your welcome…" he held her gaze for another moment and said quietly, "What was the dream?"

She looked away, down at her sneakers. "Um…. I was dreaming about when my mom died. I still remember it a little. It's stupid…"

Clark looked at her. "Why?"

"That… I got all scared just because of a dream."

"Hey, it's okay," he said earnestly. "Everybody has bad dreams and everybody gets scared."

"I'll bet you don't, do you?"

"Sure I do!" he almost smiled at the revelation. "I have bad dreams, too. And the scare me the same way."

"What do you dream about?"

It was Clark's turn to look away nervously. "Oh… lot's of things, I guess. But I try to forget them."

"How do you do that? The bad dreams are the ones I always remember the best."

"I think it helps to have friends who can talk to you about your dreams. And family who can make you feel safe. Even if you don't talk about your dreams, just being around them can help you forget. It's kind of like having a refuge that's made out of people who love you." he put an arm around her and smiled his brilliant, all-teeth smile. "And you have plenty of those."

"I guess I do." she smiled back and this time, it reached her eyes. "It's just what I wished for on my birthday." For a moment, both were silent, enjoying the fresh breeze. At long last, Maddie lifted herself up onto the couch and sighed. Clark joined her and she shrugged. "What am I going to name my dog?"

"Still haven't thought of anything?"

"No, I just call him "the dog" which is boring but I just can't think of anything."

"Well, don't ask Lois. She'll tell you to name it Clarky."

Maddie laughed. "What?"

"Long story… well, what's a name you like?"

"I don't know." she glanced at the drawer that held the shoebox full of pictures. She got up and went over, opening the creaking old drawer and removing the lid on the box. The picture she was looking for was right on top. "Maybe… maybe Jonathan."

Clark nodded slowly. "Yeah… that's a great name, Maddie."

* * *

By the time Clark heard the car door slam, Maddie had already fallen asleep on the couch. He went over to the window and looked down in time to see Chloe running flat out towards the house. Clark super-sped and beat her there. She ran through the front door and (with the noise of the generator) didn't hear Clark until he was almost right in front of her. She jumped. 

"Clark!" she shook her head with a look of urgency that took the smile off Clark's face. "Where's Maddie?!"

"Maddie? She - she's out in the barn… Chloe, what's wrong?"

"It's hard to explain but Clark, you have to get her somewhere safe, somebody's after her."

"I know, I know. How did you find out?"

"Liam, he's been working on some kind of project for the Chief Editor and he gave him all the information he needs to find Maddie… his name is Gerard Swinford and I'm think he's working for Luther Corp., Clark… you can't let them find her."

* * *

Maddie woke and sat up on the couch. It was now completely dark, the only light came from the house. She dimly wondered why the lights were on. She got up and went to the window and, looking down, she saw Chloe's car parked in the driveway. 

A sudden jolt made her stomach twist uncomfortably. Clark was in the house. She was all alone. For a moment, she only stood, unconsciously fighting herself to stay where she was. But then she couldn't take the darkness and the aloneness anymore.

She made a bolt for the stair case just as an arm wrapped around her chest and something soft and white was pressed over her nose and mouth.

* * *

"Listen, do you hear that?" 

"What?" Clark listened harder but because he was unsure what he was listening for, he didn't know. "What is it?" Chloe said again.

The generator buzzed and rattled and Clark put on hand over his left ear to focus better. All at once, the glass cup on the counter shattered and some of the pieces slipped off the edge and fell onto the floor. Both of them stared until suddenly, the window shook and also cracked down the middle before breaking into thousand pieces which tumbled into the sink and flew in all directions.

A few of the larger shards spun sideways at Chloe and Clark sped in front of her as the glass hit and bounced harmlessly off his back.

They hit the floor and a few broke in half. "Maddie." Clark whispered. "Chloe, get out of here!" he sped out of the house and straight to the barn. He halted in the doorway.

Everything glass, all the new window panes, all the light bulbs had shattered. Glass littered the floor and the stairs, it covered the farm equipment and tumbled from the edge of the loft.

"No…" he whispered. "No, no, no!" he ran up the stairs and turned the couch over hopelessly, knocking over whatever hadn't already been upturned. He x-rayed the barn, he listened for the sound of a car or anything that might signify a place to go, somewhere she might be.

But there was nothing. _Why weren't you there? Why didn't you save me? You promised._ "NO!" he shouted as he swept a hand over the desk, knocking off everything on it.

Just then, Chloe ran to the barn's doorway and froze, staring at the glass everywhere. "Oh, no…" she said quietly, walking inside and stepping over as much of the glass as she could. "Clark…"

"What was his name," Clark said in a dangerously low voice. "The man at the daily planet."

"Why?"

"Chloe!"

She jumped. "Hang on, Clark, let's just think about this. You can't just break into the Planet, guns and eyes blazing and attack him!"

"Then what am I going to do?!" Clark said louder than he'd really meant to. He walked down the stairs and across the glass-covered floor to her. "With all my abilities…. I can't just let her disappear!" _Even with all your powers, you can't save her._

Chloe reached up to put a comforting hand on his shoulder but he turned away. "Clark -"

"I should have been here. I promised her I wasn't going to let anything happen to her."

"Clark, this isn't your fault."

"Yes it is. I can't let her get hurt, Chloe." he turned away from her, feeling his face burn even as the color drained. When he spoke again, he was suddenly very quiet, his voice barely audible in his own ears. "I've never seen her so scared… and she trusted me." he felt Chloe's hand on his arm but this time he didn't jerk away from her.

"With good reason. Nothing is going to happen to Maddie because we're going to find her and get her back."

The silence hurt Clark's ears and when he didn't answer, he waited for Chloe to move away, to walk off or to give up. But her hand never left his arm and sound of her breathing never left his side. So he turned around and, however numbly and derogatorily, he nodded.

* * *

"Yes, sir… n-no, sir. I agree and I promise you, you wont be disappointed." 

"I hope you're not exaggerating, Swinford," replied the cold voice on the other end. "I'd sincerely hate for you to spend the last days of your career packing up your office, wouldn't you?"

"I'm not exaggerating, it may be an even better subject than McKnight. Much younger and easier to manipulate as well as stronger."

"Very well, I'll await your shipment. But I want it by tomorrow night at the latest or you will be taking an early retirement. Understood?"

Swinford gave an inaudible sigh. "Yes, Mr. Luther."

He ended the call and then quickly dialed Wade's number. Wade answered on the first ring (as usual) with a casual, "Yello?"

"Where are you?!"

"Whoa, ease up. I've got it under control and I'm on my way."

He rolled his eyes around at his office impatiently. "I assume you have the girl."

"Would I show my face if I didn't? Relax. It's taken care of."

* * *

"Neil Bishop: investigative reporter and unfortunately, still climbing the ladder to either success or plumbing, he's been working at the Planet for over two years and never got promoted once. As far as I know, he's barely gotten so much as a byline. Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa comes to offer him the job of a life time; enough to make his career." 

"Sounds perfect, what made him pull a one-eighty?" asked Clark, coming to lean over her shoulder to get a look at the page she'd loaded.

"Apparently he backed out when he got far enough in his research to suspect and then to be sure of Gerard Swinford's real motives. Closed it all up and left it in the dust, except for about all a nosy reporter and a good friend needed to finish the race and reclaim the trophy (being Neil's job). Liam gets everything he can find, offers it to Swinford in high hopes he'll re-instate Rudolf and instead get's the rug pulled out from under him." she sighed, sitting back in her seat with a look of frustration as she blew the stray hairs out of her face. "Liam Quinn's computer was stolen right out of his apartment. Including all the information Swinford and his cronies required to find -" she stopped and then cleared her throat, leaning close the screen again.

Clark pressed his lips together, holding in the agitation before he spoke again. "So what's this?"

"This is the public account of all Daily Planet Employees."

"Public? But that wouldn't have anything useful on Swinford, I'm sure his personal dealings are as good as a lock box."

Chloe gave him a triumphant smile. "And sometimes an inquisitive computer hacker is as good as a key." she started tapping the keyboard at high speed, stepping over each firewall, pushing through every safety guard.

Clark raised his eyebrows and watched her impressive display for a while, then said as he sat down astride the chair next to her, "What I don't get is motive. I mean, why Maddie? Aside from her abilities and why would they care about that? What's so important about someone who can break glass?"

Chloe took her hands off the keys and sat back again, chewing the inside of he cheek. "Same thing that's special about all Kryptonite infected citizens of Smallville when your eating out of the Luther Corp. hand." she pointed to the screen where a collection of emails were listed (all to Luther Corp.) and a file titled "McKnight/LL". Clark jumped up. "Wait, Clark. You know, this could be anyone at Luther Corp. Anyone who's collecting meteor freaks, okay? The important thing is that we may be able to figure out where they're taking Maddie and you could stop them before they get there. Swinford holds all the cards except for the one with the Kryptonian abilities. But if they get to wherever they're going, you can count on there being Kryptonite around. Plus, Swinford knew Morgan Edge. He knew him well enough, he might know about your weakness to Kryptonite. You can't take either risk."

Clark nodded. "Then I need to get to them before they get to Luther Corp. Can you find out which way they're going so I can follow in the right direction?"

"Uh… yeah, hang on." she clicked and typed around for a minutes "You know, they probably aren't going to the building in Metropolis, they're most likely headed for a different facility." at last, she stopped typing and clicking and pointed to the screen. "Okay, judging by the most recently approved routes out of the Planet and Swinford's files…. Okay, probably right here, Edge City, just South of Ninth Pier, they're probably going to take eight until they get to the Smallville lim -" she looked around. Clark was gone.

* * *

The ground shook under her and it took her a long moment to realize it was the vibration of a car. But she didn't open her eyes. She was afraid to. "Please, Clark," her thoughts said pleadingly. "I need you…" the van went over a bump in the rode and it was enough to make her eyes open. 

She saw the tape around her wrists, the inside of the van, the wire fencing in front of her dividing her from the rest of the inside, the man sitting about six feet away from her. She rolled on her stomach and used her elbows to push herself to the corner of the division. She pressed her back against the wall, as far away from the man with the gun as she could get, and hugged her knees against her.

Then she closed her eyes again and let her head sink down into her the back of her knees. "Clark… help me."

* * *

Even the headlights that were slowed into a blur just seemed like a piece of scenery that Clark didn't notice as he raced past. The only thing in his vision was the road ahead, the only thing on his mind was getting to that truck and nothing else got through. 

The wind, trees, road, cars, people, everything rushed past him. He mounted a final hill before seeing the moonlight reflecting off of the water in the distance and directly ahead of him, a single van on a nearly empty road.

Clark sped after it, closing the space in a matter of seconds.

* * *

Wade, sitting in the van and watching the girl, was suddenly flung forward onto the floor as the motion of the truck was brought to a stomach-turning halt. He picked himself up and held the button down on his walkie-talkie. 

"Evens, what in the world are you doing?!"

* * *

The driver barely had time to hear what was crackling through the radio before Clark tapped him on the back of the head and he slumped against the steering wheel. The road was shining with the glow of a traffic light hanging over it and reflecting off the dampness of the entire street. 

Clark ran around behind the van and took hold of the handle. He wrenched it off and flung it towards the woods beside the road.

"Whoa, what the - ?" he grabbed the man inside by the front of his shirt and sent him flying as well. He jumped up and ran inside the van and looked around in the darkness.

He saw a wire fencing closing off a small section of the interior and on the other side of it, huddled in the far corner, he could make out Maddie's small form. He came up and, hooking his fingers through the holes, he tore it back and stepped around it, kneeling down and putting his hands on Maddie's shoulders.

"Maddie? Can you hear me?"

She looked up from where she'd been hiding her face behind her knees. "Clark!" she choked out.

He ripped off the tape around her wrists and as soon as she was free she threw her arms around him, sobbing gently into his shoulder.

"It's okay," he whispered. "I'm here."

Outside the van, rain started to fall again, hammering on the roof.

* * *

"Wade? Wade! Pick up!" there was no answer on the other end and his suspicions got the better of him. He'd put pieces together in his mind and the lack of response from Wade pushed him too far. He'd been studying the Kent boy for a while now, in high hopes he might land the biggest fish in the sea and bring his career to it's peaking point. So, needless to say, his interest had sprung up quite a bit when he'd seen on Quinn's computer that in the time between Madison McKnight's deceased foster mother and living with her grandmother, she'd lived on the Kent farm and was also been rescued from her biological father by Clark Kent himself. 

The way Edge used to talk about the farm boy... Swinford had never believed a word he'd said. But he wondered.

It couldn't hurt to be prepared. He took his own glass elevator down to the sublevel and made for the lab. He came bursting through door and snapped, "I need a meteor rock specimen."

The nervous lab tech looked up from his desk and coughed several times before answering, "Sir… I-I'm sorry but this lab is solely for research conduct; a resource for reporters… no substance is to be removed without a signed form."

Swinford raised his eyebrows passively. "It would be better for you to do what I said." when the officer didn't move, he walked over to a glass cabinet and helped himself.

"Sir, please, I must insist-"

"You must keep your job." he smiled artificially. "Thank you for your assistance." Outside, he didn't bother waiting for Carlson to bring his limo around, he hailed a taxi and got in, saying gruffly, "Ninth Pier, Edge City."

* * *

Tell me what you think! 


	7. Chapter 7

Here you go, the final chapter!

* * *

Clark snapped the phone he'd taken from the driver shut with an exerted sigh. He'd called Chloe as well as the police to tell her which number to call if there was an emergency, not taking any chances this time.

"Clark?" he turned around. Maddie stood, leaning against the truck looking very pale.

"What's wrong?" he came over and knelt down in front of her.

"Why -" she choked a little and swallowed hard before trusting herself to speak again. "Why did they want me?"

"Maddie…"

She correctly read his tone and cut him off. "Please tell me the truth."

He licked his lips uncomfortably. "They just… they were interested in you because you're…special."

"I think I knew that," she nodded and looked down at her shoes for a minute. The rain was still falling and they were both soaking wet. But Clark wasn't about to force Maddie to be inside the truck with the two unconscious men tied up in there. Anytime now, he knew the police whom he'd called, would come and take them away and then he could take Maddie home. Until then, they'd stay away from the inside of the truck entirely. At last, she looked up again and said, "Are you special, Clark?"

He shifted his weight a little and looked away with what he hoped (and knew wasn't) his most bemused smile. "What makes you say that?"

She shrugged. "Because… anyone can be a father but it takes someone very special to make a dad," she quoted, smiling herself. "And I think it has to take someone really special to make a brother, too."

Clark looked at her again, the nervous smile turning into a reassuring nod. "Then I'll do my best."

All at once, the phone went off. He flipped it open. "Hey, Chloe."

"Clark, Liam just called me from the Planet, Swinford is headed your way, have you called the police yet?"

"Yeah, they should be here any time."

"Okay, but Clark, he left about fifteen minutes ago, he could be there anytime."

"Got it, thanks Chloe." he ended the call and snapped the phone shut into his jacket pocket. The rain was still falling but not as hard and in the distance, Clark caught sight of the Ninth Pier lighthouse. "Hey, what do you say we go up there? Out of the rain and everything."

Glad for a distraction, Maddie smiled and nodded twice. She followed him down the road towards the sparkling water.

They climbed the lighthouse steps and Clark heard her counting each one and at the top of fifty-seven, the winding staircase opened into a circular room with windows all around and an enormous light which was not currently lit since the rain hadn't caused much fog.

"Wow…" Maddie sighed. "You can almost see Metropolis from here."

"Yeah," Clark said absently as he walked from one window to the next, probing the darkness outside, searching for a car as well as listening and x-raying for one. At last, he spotted a car in the far-off distance, coming closer. It drove slowly past the van and then suddenly stopped and a man clambered out, running towards the pier. Now if only the police would come before he noticed the two people in the lighthouse… "Maddie," he whispered. "Get down."

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly as she slid down against one of the windows. Clark listened as they sat for a long time, silent as the dead. For a while they could hear Swinford down below, searching around. Then for a long time there was silence and Clark began to wonder if he'd gone, when just then, there were the sounds of footsteps fast on the stairs. "Clark!" she whispered in a panicked voice.

"Just stay there, it's be fine," he replied firmly. He was just about to go down and confront the man on the stairs when he began climbing the last few. That's when Clark felt it. The all-too familiar twisting of his blood rushing, his chest burning, his muscles weakening.

When Swinford came into the top floor of the lighthouse, his pocket glowed green. Clark felt the last of his energy leaving him and he fell on his knees, one hand on his chest, the other clawing the floor underneath him.

"Clark, what's wrong?!" Maddie half screamed, half sobbed from over by the window.

Swinford took in the scene with one sweep of his eyes and shrugged, taking the Kryptonite out of his pocket. "Well, well. Turn's out Edge wasn't insane after all." he smiled as he squatted down next to Clark, waving the meteor rock tauntingly in his face. "_And _it looks like I've landed the most high-value freak on the market."

Maddie stood, frozen against the window, watching Swinford through wide eyes that were rimmed red around the edges. "Clark…"

"Fortunately, I think I've also got what I came for. They call it killing to freaks with one stone." and he tossed and caught the rock in his hand pointedly.

Clark's arm (which had be the only thing holding him up) gave way and he fell to the floor completely, the pain tearing at his insides ruthlessly.

"Clark!" Maddie screamed, still too disoriented and afraid to move. But as she screamed, the windows began to shake and rattle and the huge light bulb inside the glass case at the center of the room shattered.

The first signs of uncertainty crossed Swinford's face and he stood up straight, the hand holding the rock falling limply at his side. "Maddie…" Clark groaned from the floor. "Don't -"

He could see her trying. Her face tightened and her jaw set but the more the windows shook and Clark writhed on the floor, the more her panic level rose. She raised her hand's to her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Cracks began forming on the windows all around them. They spread like growing plants, creeping along all through the glass.

Swinford backed away a little and shouted over the noise of the shaking glass. "What are you doing!"

"Maddie…" Clark gasped. "No… you've got to fix it -"

"I can't…" she barely managed to say through her teeth. "I can't I - Clark…" one of the window shattered and glass flew everywhere.

One shard spun past Maddie and cut her across the face, another put a thin gash in Clark's arm. But most of it caught Swinford full on. He reeled back as three or four pieces stabbed into him in different places. He screamed and stumbled a few paces left and then right and then backward.

The back of his leg caught the window frame and he fell back, out of the window. They didn't hear him hit the ground from the noise of the still-shaking windows.

But already, Clark felt the cut on his arm start to heal and the wrenching pain ebb away.

But as Swinford fell, Maddie screamed and another window shattered near Clark. But by now the affects of the Kryptonite had worn off and he stumbled mostly upright, the shards of glass bouncing off him, the only thing they cut being his jacket.

Maddie barely stood where she was and the cracks on the windows grew farther as a drop of blood from her cheek dripped on the floor.

"Maddie!" Clark ran over to her and her eyes opened for a moment.

"Clark, I - I can't -" she choked on her words and screamed again, clutching her head in both hands. A third window cracked some more before shattering. Clark quickly used his heat vision to shoot a piece away that flew at Maddie.

"You can, you can do it!" he put his hands on both sides of her face, causing her to open her eyes again. "You can do it, Maddie."

She looked him in the face. A tear slid unchecked down her cheek and mixed with the blood there. Her tangled wet hair hung about her head in a disordered mess.

She bit her lip and some of the pressure on her head from her hands seemed to ease off a little and she moved her hands over his on her face.

She closed her eyes again, but this time, not tight shut but more soft. The relaxed expression had the look of a forced one but it was there nonetheless.

Over her shoulder, Clark saw some of the cracks in the windows reseed. The shaking quieted a little and then the cracks disappeared altogether.

He smiled and when he looked back at her face, he saw she was doing the same. She looked like she was concentrating hard.

All at once, pieces of glass flew from all over the room and started placing themselves back in their frames, welding the edges together. Even the windows from which pieces were outside were lifted off the ground below and flew back to their places.

"You're doing it," Clark whispered to her. The last few pieces came together, including the light bulb, with exception of the pieces that had caught Swinford. These left four conspicuous jagged empty places in one window.

Then the shaking stopped completely and it was very quiet again. Maddie's eyes opened and she wavered a moment and then fell on her knees, putting both hands over her face.

Clark put both arms around her and hugged her close, one arm around her shoulders, holding her against his chest as he soothed, "You did it, Maddie."

"Clark..." she sobbed into his jacket. "…I was…I was so scared -" she hiccupped a little, her hand holding onto a fistful of his shirt.

"Shh…" he whispered. "It's okay, I'm here."

Outside, the sound of sirens was clear and close and the blue and red lights flashed, reflecting on the windows as the police arrived.

Clark scooped up about four bales of hay in two hands and carried them from the truck into the barn. Chloe followed him, talking animatedly. "So in the end Neil got his job back but Liam may be facing some hard questions from the police about his involvement. But it shouldn't be too bad if he tells the truth." she read Clark's alarmed expression and added quickly, "Not anything about Maddie! Just that he didn't know what Swinford was having him do. Speaking of whom, looks like we'll be needing a new editor and chief at the Planet. Gerard Swinford didn't survive the fall or the stab wounds and the police are still curious how four extremely large pieces of glass managed to wrench themselves free, stab Swinford, and send him flying out an otherwise intact window." she smiled knowingly. "So I guess Maddie figured out the "fixing" part of her power, huh?"

"Yeah," Clark smiled back, dropping the hay bales on the floor with a loud _foom! _

"Speaking of Maddie," said Chloe, becoming serious again. "How's she doing?"

"She's a little shook up but I think she'll be fine."

"Well, when you have a Super Hero watching out for you, there's not much to worry about," she said with a meaningful smile. "And you? Any more nightmares?"

Clark shook his head, brushing his hands against his jeans. "No."

Her smile grew with a sparkling tinge and she skipped a little in her next step as she followed him back to the truck. "So with a Daily Planet van-driver, and a kidnapping Editor and Chief with a vicious crony, I have enough for a front page article!" she twitched a little, jokingly. "However I may have to settle for fourteenth page…maybe sixteenth."

Clark laughed. "I don't know, with your violent reporter instincts, they may have no choice but to give you the front page… maybe even the job as new editor."

She laughed, too. "Yeah, that's so not going to happen. I hear the new editor is going to be a meat-grinder."

"Sounds wonderful," Clark mused, humorously.

There was a brief silence and then Chloe said slowly, "What about Maddie's grandmother?"

"I think she's a little freaked out…" Clark answered.

"Well, that's understandable…"

"But Maddie's safe and I think it helps."

Just then, Lois ran up, looking flushed and excited. "Okay, you'll never guess!"

"I believe you," said Chloe. "Do tell."

"Alright," she said, tossing her hair out of her face and holding the papers she carried firmly between her hands. "The financing trader's corporation is a done deal!" blank expressions followed this statement making Lois sigh irritably. "Am I the only one who cares to have a say in interstate commerce?"

"Yeah," Chloe returned. "I think you are, Lois." Clark shrugged with a smirk. "Well, look. I really need to get back to the Planet but I'll see you guys later, we can go for coffee at the Talon."

"Yeah, sounds good," said Clark and she nodded with another smile and wave and strode off towards the house.

"So, Smallville," Lois said tantalizingly. "Care telling me what exactly happened at the ninth pier in Edge City night before last?"

"No, not really," Clark shrugged again.

"Oh c'mon, you know I'm just gonna get it from Chloe later."

"Go ahead, I'm not stopping you." he turned with an annoying grin and picked up only one bale of hay this time and carried it into the barn with Lois following behind with a spitfire of questions he had a little too much fun not answering.

* * *

The wind blew strong against her face and she kept her eyes closed, letting it blow her two braids out behind her. It was a long time before she sensed another's presents beside her.

She looked up and smiled her brightest smile. "Clark! Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Just coming to check on you," he answered, sitting down beside her. "So how are you enjoying summer vacation so far?" he joked. Then he cleared his throat. "Hey Maddie… how are you doing?"

She nodded and closed her eyes again, feeling the warm breeze as she rested against the trunk of the tree. "This is where I was when I saw the man. I'm not scared to be here anymore… and I think it's because… because you made me feel safe again. When I really needed you, you were right there and you saved my life." she opened her eyes and looked at him. He was watching her, an ever-present concern on his face. "You always do," she finished. They heard a barking and she sat up and called, "C'mere, Jonathan! C'mon!"

The dog came padding around the corner and came to sit beside her, looking as though it were trying to be a bodyguard as it stared fixedly out at the road, it's ears raised, it's nose twitching.

"Looks like someone is taking his job very seriously."

"Yeah… Chloe found a picture of my mom." she reached into her jacket pocket and produced a newly printed photograph.

It showed a young women who looked very much like Maddie, with hazel blonde hair and a sparkling smile. She was standing on what looked to be a balcony on the beach, leaning against the rail as the wind blew her hair around. Whoever had taken the picture had obviously snuck up when she wasn't looking and when she'd turned to face the camera, she was laughing.

"She looks just like you," Clark said with a smile.

Maddie nodded, looking down at the picture with an odd look in her eyes. "I don't miss her. I can't really, because I barely remember her. But I think I _would _miss her if I didn't have so much now."

"I feel the same way about my birth mother. If I didn't have such great friends and wonderful parents… I might miss her too, even though I hardly remember her."

Maddie looked up at him with a spark of the mysterious child-like perceptiveness showing on her face. "I think you're special, Clark. I know you are. You're special like me. And it's okay if you don't tell people. Sometimes I wish people didn't know about me and things I can do. But…" she trailed off, petting Jonathan on the head and making his tail wag.

"But what?"

"It's good to tell people sometimes. When they know your secrets they understand you more… I guess. I think Chloe knows you pretty good. And you guys are really good friends now, right?"

"Yeah… yeah, we are." Clark fell deep in thought and there was silence for a long time. The dog lay down with his head between his paws and the sun started setting. Their shadows fell long across the grass and Maddie leaned her head against the tree trunk and sighed.

"Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks again." she pushed a few stray hairs out of her face and her smile seemed a little different. It was deep. It was soft and sure. It was safe. "You've been the best brother in the world."

Clark could only smile. The two of them watched the sun go down and after a while, Maddie fell asleep with her head on Clark's shoulder and most peaceful expression on her face that had there for years.

**_The End_**

* * *

And so ends my first shot at posting stories. Thank you so much for reading, everyone! Tell me what you thought if you have a moment.

-Katy


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